Bizcommunity.com relaunches: what's new for you

After months of behind-the-scenes activity, we're thrilled to unveil a revamped, Bizcommunity 2011, featuring a host of new features - an expanded set of self-promotional tools - such as personal profiles appearing on the various portal front pages and in the newsletters and the ability to find, follow, subscribe and share with your favourite industry personalities and opinion leaders.

What hasn't changed, however, is our commitment to quality news, carefully edited, curated and aggregated daily by the biz editorial teams from specialist journalists, our communities of industry leaders, other news sources and press releases you submit.

Since 2001, Bizcommunity.com has been at the vanguard of quality, daily industry news distribution, gaining thousands of friends, fans, partners, associates and subscribers across South Africa, greater Africa and the world on its 10-year journey into the digital promised land.

"Bizcommunity's objectives really have not changed," says André Rademan, company co-founder and technical director. "Since day one, our goal has been to provide the various business sectors to which we cater with the tools they need to grow their businesses. We're happy that the 'new biz' now offers more value for partners and stakeholders, and more ways for people and companies to network and promote themselves via the site.

"Ideal opportunity to upgrade the design"

"The introduction of new features and benefits was also an ideal opportunity to upgrade the design. We have researched hundreds of news and niche sites in order to offer an improved standard of legibility, an enhanced user experience and more click-through value for our subscribers, contributors and stakeholders."

Comments Bizcommunity MD Robin Parker, "All the new bells and whistles, however, are really just a support to our core offering, which remains quality, up-to-the-minute content."

So what else can you expect from the new biz?

Profiles: Previously, only regular editorial contributors and bloggers could get a profile on biz but the facility has now been rolled out so that anyone can interact on the site. Regular industry leaders and contributors are still showcased in the Contributor sections of our sites, while all other profile activity can be found under the People Directories. Access your profile from the new top menu item 'My biz' on the site. (Click here to set up or update your profile.)
Industry wall: Building on previous conversational forums, the biz industry wall now takes participation further - sharing industry opinion, news and links with the community. All news updates will appear on the industry wall which may be browsed by industry or category.
People directory: Another new menu item, the People Directory allows you to find people by industry, by category or job title. People will be listed in order of popularity according to number of followers and connections with other industry professionals and the quality of their input and comments - quality contributors will rise to the top of the list. By the way, in the interests of privacy, there is an option to tick if you'd rather keep a low profile and not appear here.
Follow and be followed: Capitalise on the big online trend which allows you to follow the activities of people within the community or for them to follow you. Subscribe to the updates and comments of select individuals via the newsfeed by clicking the Follow button beside any profile.
Showcase: The feature that really allows our communities to shine! Individuals or companies can showcase designs under 13 different categories check them out here Invite your clients, colleagues and friends to participate and ensure our region increases in status as a global creative destination.
My archive: You may now archive any content you stumble across on biz to read at a later stage simply by clicking on the 'Add to my archive' icon found at the footer of every article. All articles will be stored within the "My archive" link under the Profile tab of the top menu bar.

Send us your feedback!Bizcommunity's ongoing success is a team effort - it is thanks to the participation of all the dedicated partners, stakeholders, opinion leaders and subscribers and the commitment of everyone at biz (IT, editorial, sales, production and admin) that we're able to be of service to our thriving communities. Please send us your feedback. We look forward to engaging with all players in our Marketing & Media (South Africa and Africa), Retail, Medical and Lifestyle communities.